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Book #43: The Legend of the Blue Eyes by B. Kristin McMichael

Arianna Grace liked her boring, Midwestern, teenage life where she ignored the many unanswered questions of her childhood. Why were her parents dead? Why did she not have family? Where was she raised until she was five? When someone offers to explain it all, Arianna thinks she’s just getting answers. Instead, she is thrown into a world of night humans who drink blood.

On Arianna’s sixteenth birthday, her world is thrown upside down when she changes into a vampire. Night humans, or demons, as some call them, live in normal society. Learning all of the new rules of a world she didn’t know existed might be hard enough, but it’s further complicated by two former-friends that now want to help her take her role as the successor to her grandfather.

There is a war going on between the night humans. Sides have been taken and lines are not crossed. Four main clans of night humans are struggling for control of the night. Divided into two sides, clans Baku and Tengu have been at war for centuries with the clans Dearg-dul and Lycan. That is, until Arianna Grace finds out the truth; she’s the bridge of peace between the two sides. But not everyone wants peace. With the night humans divided, Arianna is now a pawn in the war between them. She must choose a side—her mother’s family or her father’s—and for once in her life, decide her own fate.

This was one of those cases where I judged the book for its cover and then its back blurb. From the blurb, the book sounds interesting, right?

I didn’t care for it.

It started off strong with the main character Arianna being a typical teenager. She didn’t feel young and though the narrator’s voice grated my ears every now and then, I could work with it with the beginning Arianna. However, that all changes when her birthday happens. Sure, finding out there is another world outside of the human one would make anyone confused and scared. Arianna makes it a step more… she became slightly whiny, docile, and very childlike whenever blood was introduced into her system.

The actual book was completely left field from what the blurb insinuates. The best way for me to describe it is as a reverse harem. If you like one girl and many boys vying for her attention, this book is fine. The central part of the book was the girl and her boys, not the impending struggle and her own decisions.

I was bored through most of it. Arianna is either drinking blood, sleeping, listening in on conversations, or getting kidnapped. She wasn’t a strong female lead and it bothered me. I could see that the story would eventually get her to that point, but I don’t know if I could read the rest of the trilogy to see how she progresses. This is one of those “I need to sit this one out and contemplate” books, where I may or may not continue with it in the future.

That said, the supporting and male leads are awesome. The writing is great, they have personality, and I found myself wanting to hang out with Turner. Sure, I don’t care for all the “I’m in love with you, Ari” stuff, but they were decent. Molina, one of the body guards, is a natural badass. I would love to see her in a spin off series as the main character. She has gumption.

The writing is also pretty good. I could see the world McMichael crafted. There were times I was a bit annoyed, but I would say for the most part, McMichael did a good job.

In all, it was… ugh…. I’m not sure what I would say. How about, on a scale of 1-5, the overall story is about a 2.5 and the writing is more of a 3 to 4. So, I guess I would say I’m on the fence on this book. I’m still unsure if I would continue the series and I didn’t like the narration of the audiobook, but I also couldn’t stop the book until it was done. I guess I’ll say I could eventually have a love/hate relationship with this book and trilogy. We’ll see.